[Night Walkers 02] - Paranoia (2014) Page 17
Mia stepped over to me and lowered her chin as she met my eyes. “You two watch out for each other.” She glanced over her shoulder at Addie and Jack. “No more fighting. Finn needs you—both of you.”
chapter twenty-one
The only thing we discussed on the car ride was where to begin. Since Jack still didn’t want to tell me where the Takers’ base was, and we didn’t know how connected Cooper was with the other Takers anyway, we decided that starting at Thor’s place would be the best plan. I parked the car up the street from the run-down house.
For all we knew, Cooper might not even be here, but if he wasn’t, Thor probably knew where he was. The fact that Finn had been here just a few hours ago, while under the control of someone else, made me pretty sure that Thor had a lot more to do with the Takers than I’d previously believed.
That thought made me want to put my fist through Thor’s head more than I’d ever wanted to in the past, and considering he was the biggest asshat I’d ever met, that was really saying something.
Jack held his finger up to his lips as I turned off the car and reached for my door handle. It was hard to resist the temptation to roll my eyes.
“Got it,” I whispered. I was pretty proud of myself for showing some restraint.
Hiding in the shade of a tree, we waited. I wasn’t sure what for, until I noticed that Jack’s eyes weren’t on the house but on the sky. The moon was out, almost full, and shining brightly down on this creepy little neighborhood. But there was a big cloud moving toward the moon and within a couple of minutes, it would be covered. The street would be darkened.
Time passed slowly, and I found myself thinking about the way Finn had looked coming at me with that knife. I knew it wasn’t him, but it was still a memory that would be hard to shake. Just like the memory of his blood on the blade in my hand. I shivered and Jack glanced over at me.
“You sure you’re up to this?” There was a slight smirk on his face, so I interrupted him before he could go on.
“Yes, I’m sure.” I straightened the dark gray jacket I’d borrowed from Finn’s closet and peered back up at the moon … almost time. “But if you want to wait in the car, I understand.”
Jack didn’t say a word, but the muscle flexing in his jaw was answer enough.
The moon finally slipped behind the cloud and the street sank into darkness. The nearest streetlamp was out—jagged shards of broken glass stuck out from the light socket that was supposed to provide safety from the shadows. The only illumination on the street came from a few windows and an occasional front porch lamp that still worked.
We stuck close to the trees as I led Jack down the street. When I got to Thor’s yard, we crept around the back. Every crackle of gravel, every snap of a twig beneath my feet felt amplified, over and over. It felt like a megaphone announcing our presence to every person in the homes surrounding us. But there was no response. No one noticed. No one cared.
When I got around to the back I could see one of those screened-in sunrooms they have on older homes. Thor sat in a spindly old rocking chair that really didn’t look reliable enough to bear his weight, and he was talking, but from my position I couldn’t see the other person.
“ … know if they can get more.”
“They’ll have to.” The voice was soft and low. I couldn’t even tell if it was male or female. My eyes scanned the shadows on the opposite end of the room. I could barely make out a figure there, but the only light came from inside the building and the figure was in a shade so deep they’d have to step forward for me to tell even how tall they were, let alone anything else.
“What if they can’t?” Thor’s voice sounded much younger and more vulnerable than I ever would’ve guessed. He also had a thick accent—Romanian? Or Russian maybe? I scratched my chin. The things you learn about someone when they finally stop growling and have a conversation.
“Then we’ll make good on our promise. Besides, we’re almost ready to start. We’ve gotten all the money we need for supplies and setup.”
Money … all the weird sleep issues in Oakville, the people
draining their savings accounts, even possibly the police
commissioner quitting his job so abruptly. All the dozens of snippets of news articles or reports over the last few months that I’d wondered about. The Takers had been behind all of it, and now they were ready for whatever was coming next.
The other person stepped forward and I recognized Cooper immediately. Good, he was awake. I also noticed that he didn’t have any sunglasses on and was looking straight at Thor. The only Taker I knew in town had just made eye contact with someone besides Finn. The connection should be broken now. This had been an easier job than I’d expected.
Jack grabbed my elbow and nodded back toward the car. I turned and started to follow him, but the next words I heard froze me mid-step and I barely kept myself from falling over.
“The chemist doesn’t seem to be all that cooperative.”
Chemist? Dad!
I’d always suspected that if there were Takers in town, it was related to Dad. But since Cooper hadn’t made a move to come after me, even knowing I was a Watcher, I’d started to think maybe Cooper wasn’t involved with Dad. After all, just because someone was a Taker didn’t mean he knew all the other Takers. Hell, I hadn’t even known there were other Watchers before Jack told me last week. But hearing them talk about “the chemist” made me certain that not only were Cooper and Thor heavily involved, they probably knew where Dad was that very moment.
Jack pulled hard on my sleeve but I ignored him, listening harder.
“He knows we can hurt them any time we want. He knows we aren’t afraid to kill. We can become anyone at any time. The people close to you have the easiest time crushing you. We’re on the inside. He can’t fight that.” Cooper was supremely confident.
Thor stood and walked closer to the screen. He could see me clearly if he just looked down. My heart pounded so hard my chest hurt. I’d waited too long, and now they were going to catch me. Jack froze, his fingers still gripped around my jacket. I could hear his breath coming in quiet puffs. The moon came out from behind the cloud just as Thor turned back toward Cooper.
“Parker shouldn’t be underestimated. That’s what got Jeff killed. You guys should’ve learned from that little experiment.”
The words “little experiment” rang in my ears as we snuck along the side of the house, into the front yard, and back out to the car.
I drove on autopilot across town back to Finn’s house. I thought I heard Jack call Addie to tell them we were on our way, but I didn’t remember a word he said. All I could think about was what kind of “experiment” could have been done on Jeff. Had he been under the control of a Taker when he’d trapped Mia and me and started the fire? If so, he’d been as innocent as Finn was tonight.
Memories of Jeff from years ago flooded back. So many times, we’d hung out behind the junior high. Went to the movies or kicked the soccer ball around after school. Had I killed a complete innocent? Was I responsible for the death of my friend?
Mia and Addie met us out front and snuck us around the back of the Patricks’ house, but I didn’t go inside. Instead I sat on the garden wall by the basketball hoop, feeling sick and needing to think. I needed time to sort this out.
This wasn’t like with Dr. Freeburg. I hadn’t attacked Jeff, but if I’d known he wasn’t himself … would I have tried harder to save him?
Could I have saved him?
After a few minutes, Addie came out and sat next to me. “So, they didn’t say anything about Finn?”
“No. But they mentioned my dad.” My voice sounded hollow, even to me. “I think they probably even know where he is and what’s happening to him.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” Her voice was quiet, hesitant. And the answer was no. I didn’t want to talk to her right now. I knew I’d screwed up and made mistakes, but she wasn’t the only one who’d been hurt. Right now, I needed someone I co
uld trust not to hurt me again. More importantly, I needed someone who would be able to answer some of my questions.
“Thank you, Addie—but right now, I need to talk to Mia.” My words were soft, but I could tell from the way she pulled back that they still stung. I tried to soften the blow. “She’s the only one who was there … that night at school, with the fire.”
The tension drained out of her shoulders and she looked less angry, if a little deflated. After a moment, she nodded. “Okay. I’ll get her.”
A few minutes later, Mia sat beside me. She was quiet, waiting for me to be ready.
“I heard something at the house about an experiment on Jeff.”
Her body stiffened at Jeff’s name, but she inclined her head for me to continue.
“Do you think he could’ve been under a Taker’s control that day?” I didn’t feel the need to clarify further, and she didn’t ask me to. Even though we hadn’t really talked about what had happened, we both knew too well what day I was referring to.
We could never forget.
Mia bit her lip and curled a strand of hair around her finger for a few seconds before finally answering. “I don’t think so.”
It surprised me that she felt so sure. “Why not?”
“Because of all the things he said.” Her brow furrowed. “About his mom and the team, all the bitterness … that wasn’t some Taker out for a joy ride. Jeff really felt those things.”
“It wasn’t a Taker.” Jack’s voice came from the door of the house. I hadn’t realized he was listening, but it didn’t surprise or bother me. He was the one who knew about this world, and apparently the one who could really answer my question.
“How do you know?” I shifted my position so I could see him over my shoulder, but his face was still hidden in shadow.
“Because it was a Watcher.” Jack stared straight down at the ground between his feet. He seemed to shrink in place. “I know, because it was me.”
chapter twenty-two
I stood up and felt Darkness begin to push against the wall I’d locked him behind. He was surging to fight—to take action. But now that I knew exactly what we were capable of together, it was a little easier to find the strength to hold him back.
Mia was the first person to find words. She walked slowly toward Jack with both hands clenched by her sides. “What do you mean? Y-you made Jeff do that to us?”
“Not exactly.”
“Well then what, exactly?” Addie stepped out around Jack and stood next to Mia.
“I was just trying to find out for sure. To figure out if Parker was a Night Walker.” Jack still looked down but kept talking, his voice growing firmer. “It seemed like the best plan. Parker’s dad agreed. I noticed how much attention Parker was paying to Mia, so I pushed Jeff in his dreams to grow more and more jealous of Parker. I didn’t realize the Takers had already messed with him and left him a little unstable. Or that he was capable of taking it that far. I didn’t realize he’d already been jealous of Parker to start with.”
“How was messing with Jeff’s dreams supposed to get you the answers you wanted? You almost got us killed.” My voice came out cold and malevolent. I forced Darkness back again and he roared in anger. I sat down, trapping my hands under my legs, doing everything I could to keep him under control. Still I felt his rage, his frustration, boiling through my veins.
“I thought if I pushed him, he might make things difficult for you at school and then you’d go into his dreams and push him back. If you’d done that, I could have felt your resistance there when I went back into Jeff’s dreams. It’s like a fingerprint, kind of—a Watcher can tell if another Watcher has recently been in a dream. I would’ve been able to see and feel the difference in him. Then I’d know you were a Watcher.”
After an uneasy pause, Jack continued. “I was so stuck on this idea that I even watched Mia’s dreams once. You were paying so much attention to her, I thought maybe I could tell from her dreams what you were, but her nightmares were awful and clearly not influenced by a Watcher. Seeing them almost convinced me that you weren’t one.”
Then he looked up at me, staring straight in my eyes. “I messed up with Jeff. It didn’t even occur to me that you might not know how to push him in his dreams—or that my influence would send him so far off the edge. It was an accident, and a massive mistake.”
When no one responded, Jack stepped away from the wall, toward Mia. “I’m so sorry for everything that happened. If I’d known he would—” He turned to face me. “If I’d known any of it, I would have stopped him.”
I drew in a deep breath, and by the time I released it, even Darkness had calmed down a little. It was all becoming so complicated and confusing. Nothing was what I’d believed, and I needed some time to figure out how to respond to the changes.
Climbing slowly to my feet, I shuffled toward the house, making eye contact with Mia on my way. “Let’s go get ready to deal with Finn’s questions. He’s going to freak out when he finds himself tied up in his own closet.”
Addie and Mia slept in their rooms, and Jack and I kept watch over Finn. Strangely, Finn was still asleep. Since we were in the same room as him and planned on taking shifts, we untied Finn’s hands so he could sleep more comfortably. We didn’t know what kind of shape he would be in when he woke up, or what he’d remember, if anything at all, so we didn’t want to scare him more than necessary. We still kept him in the closet and left his feet bound in a very tight and complicated knot. If we’d been wrong about Cooper and it was some other Taker in control of Finn—which was a distinct possibility—Finn wouldn’t be able to get anywhere very fast.
Jack agreed to take the first watch. As I was about to enter the Hollow, I heard him whisper my name.
“Huh?” I kept my eyes closed, not wanting to accidentally make eye contact with him.
He whispered across the room to me. “I really am sorry.”
“I know.” Stretching one arm up, I rested my forearm across my eyes. “But just so you know, that was a pretty sucky plan.”
He laughed softly. “What was I supposed to do, walk up and ask if you were a Watcher? If you weren’t, you would’ve thought I was crazy. I couldn’t mention your dad, and you could’ve been a Taker or even a Builder. This was supposed to be the safest way, the least intrusive into your life.”
I scoffed. “Well, it felt pretty damn intrusive to me.”
Jack didn’t respond, and I almost drifted off again before I heard another whisper. “You need to let Addie go.”
I groaned and pulled my pillow over my head. “I really don’t want to have this conversation with you.”
“You’re dangerous—to her and everyone else.” His voice was pleading, worried. “She’s already been hurt. What will it do to you if you hurt her worse next time? Can’t you let her go?”
“In case you haven’t noticed … I don’t have her.” I was exhausted and this conversation was just pissing me off. I didn’t even try to hide it.
“Yeah, but she’s still holding on … still waiting for you to get better.” Jack shifted his position against the wall. “You should tell her that you aren’t going to.”
“Why?” I pulled the pillow off my head. “To give you a better shot at her?”
“No.” His voice dropped to a low mutter and I had to strain to hear him. “I don’t have that anyway.”
“What?”
“She … uh, hasn’t spoken to me about anything but Builder training since I kissed her the other day. If you hadn’t thrown me away from her, she probably would have. She wasn’t exactly kissing me back.”
I couldn’t help but smile into my pillow and a bit of my tension seemed to ease. “Sounds rough.”
He sounded a little angry when he responded. “Anyway, you just need to think about what’s more important: Addie being with you … or Addie being safe.”
That thought sobered me up and I rolled over with my back to him. “Fine, I get it. I’m going to sleep now. Good night.”
And I lay there awake, thinking about his words for way longer than I wanted to admit.
The soft sound of whimpering woke me up and it took me a minute to realize I wasn’t hearing it in someone’s dream. There was a soft nudge against my foot, and when I peeked through my barely parted eyelids, my blood ran cold. Addie was standing over me wearing a lime green shirt with pajama bottoms, her back pressed against Finn’s stomach, her long auburn curls draped over his elbow. His right arm was wrapped around her shoulders. His feet were untied, and he’d managed to get his hands on the scissors from the desk. He held the blade tight against Addie’s throat as he backed her toward the door.
Jack was out cold on the bed; so much for taking turns keeping watch. I glanced at the clock. It was barely six a.m. Everyone else was probably still sleeping.
And Finn was obviously not back to normal.
My eyes scanned the room, but I couldn’t see anything I could use quickly enough to save Addie without risking her neck—and life—at the same time. There was a heavy crystal paperweight on the dresser, but after Freeburg’s dream … I shuddered. No, I couldn’t.
I heard Addie’s breathing quicken as they walked out into the hallway. A rush of anger and adrenaline pounded through my veins.
Okay, I could, but this time I’d do it differently. I got silently to my feet and gripped the paperweight in my right hand. Sneaking slowly into the hallway, I carefully sidestepped the creaky board on the right and caught up with them before they left the kitchen. Swinging hard, I brought the paperweight down on Finn’s shoulder. The scissors fell to the floor as his arm dropped. He yelled out in pain just as I wrapped my left arm around his head and covered his mouth. He tried to bite my fingers, so I jerked my arm up under his chin until his jaw was wrenched shut. Finn fought against my arm and tried to elbow me in the stomach.